KEDIBONE PHAGO: Trump, Musk, AfriForum - understanding US sanctions on South Africa

President Trump has already signed over 50 executive orders in a space of two weeks in office. This is unprecedented for a US president in a 40-year period.

The US Constitution makes provision for the president to exercise his executive power over the government, to ensure implementation of public policies. This is often processed through a written directive that instructs a particular government department to implement a law with clear specifications. It is through executive orders that the president intervenes to enforce the implementation of a specific law or even finetuning certain policy parameters of an existing law. The intent is clear that executive orders may be required when there are emergencies or in a war situation so that the inherent delays embedded within the law-making process are circumvented.

Trump is not your typical career politician but an exasperated businessman who was able to realise some political fortunes of the highest order to preside over the US government. It is a well-known fact that he is not even hiding that he is playing right-wing politics which thrive on hate, divisions and even ignorance.

In one of his recent speeches, former President Joe Biden considered the Trump administration as the government of the oligarchs. This is also in reference to the role of South African-born, Elon Musk, who serves as a shadow vice president to Trump, clearly obscuring the role of James David Vance.

But it is a convergence and complicit disinformation of Musk and AfriForum that need to be considered a major factor in the executive order signed by President Trump to sanction South Africa.

THE AXIS OF EVIL

The Axis of Evil concept was used by former US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address in 2002 about the governments of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, that they were supporting terrorism following the 11 September 2001 attack on the USA by al-Qaeda.

In this context of the US sanctions against South Africa, it is now centred on the relationship between Trump, Musk and AfriForum. This is apt as it serves this purpose when disinformation is key to influencing the arriving at critical decisions negatively impacting the relationship between Pretoria and Washington DC.

The executive order to sanction South Africa was signed in complete ignorance of the role of the US embassy in South Africa or any meaningful engagement between the two nations. It was also apparently delivered to the government of South Africa on X, a social media platform owned by Musk.

This decision to sanction South Africa is scary and carries many implications for both South Africans and Americans, of course disproportionately, to say the least.

Interestingly, the first casualty is the main perpetrator, AfriForum, who has realised post facto that the executive order has made provision for their refugee status in the US. It is this outcome that their actions are already backfiring on AfriForum itself.

They have already issued media statements that they are not emigrating to the US.

For a country like the US to arrive at this sloppy public policy decision serves to show that Trump’s administration’s actions have undermined well-established and tested diplomatic processes.

It is AfriForum that needs to take bulk responsibility as their disinformation game dates as far back as 2016 during the 45th Presidency of Donald Trump. It is obvious that they are now red-faced and embarrassed. Their disinformation game has demonstrated their lack of intellectual honesty, integrity and capability to do basic scenario mapping as a civic society movement. But we know that they thrive on a fear-mongering approach to scare white people in South Africa and elsewhere about some imaginary land grabs and mistreatment of white people.

They often overreact at the slightest mistake or provocation of any black person who raises a critical voice or issue regarding the historical injustices and how the present-day government intervention is needed to address such. They maintain a victimhood mentality and are looking for sympathy from the international community instead of sober engagements about South Africa's developmental challenges.

They want to maintain separate development at all costs under the democratic government despite our constitutional provision on diversity, human rights and inclusive society. They want their own enclaves and institutions even amid social malaise that South Africans are facing such as poverty, inequality, corruption and unemployment, among others. They do not want to form part of the collective solution but prefer to ride on the wave of judging people on their race. To quote Martin Luther King Junior: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."

OPTIONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA

It is clear that the executive order against South Africa needs to be unpacked and studied carefully regarding its potential impact on the economy.

The reality is that the US is one of the major trading partners of South Africa.

This means that there is a need to find meaningful ways to mitigate the potential impact and the South African government needs to be swift on this intervention.

We can no longer slack but need to find homegrown ideas that are practical to invigorate our economic activities and strengthen our public institutions. One thing for certain is that this requires South Africans to go to the drawing board to unite the country and consolidate our public institutions so that they work for citizens.

Our municipalities and state-owned enterprises need to be prioritised to ensure that they work for citizens. This means we need to build capacity at an alarming speed if we are to weather the storm against these US sanctions against South Africa.

We must never forget that we have consistently surpassed Brazil as the most unequal society in the world.

We therefore need every instrument we can use to mitigate that before we are plunged into persistent civil unrest by the poor people if we fail to mitigate the US sanction on our country.

Nkosi Sikelel' iSouth Afrika!